


A Little Donny Osmond Flair

by emit98



Category: The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 18:19:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6340174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emit98/pseuds/emit98
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young Connor McKinley finds happiness in a certain musical staring a certain Mormon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Donny Osmond Flair

It was movie night in the McKinley household. The family packed up their van to go to the video store. Connor McKinley, the youngest of the five children, sat all the way in the back, in the middle.

“Dad, who's turn is it to pick?” Claire McKinley asked her father. 

“I believe it's Connor's turn,” Mr. McKinley replied.

This was met with complaints from Connor's siblings, but Connor smiled excitedly. His six-year-old brain could not remember the last time he got to actually pick what movie they watched. Of course, it was partially his fault; his parents declared his last movie choice to be “sinful” and took away his movie choosing privilege until he was older. But now he was older, and he would be sure to pick something wholesome.

The family got to the movie store, and Connor waited impatiently for his older siblings to exit the van before doing so himself. They were all still moaning and groaning about Connor getting to choose, but Connor didn't care.

Connor's eye immediately caught a case with rainbow writing on the cover. It was in the new releases section, but there were a lot of that particular film. The bright-eyed child walked over to it and picked it up. “I want this one!” He declared.

“That was quick,” his mother commented, going over to make sure the movie was okay to watch. She read the back cover. “Why this one?” She asked.

“The cover is pretty!” Connor said with a smile.

“That's a good enough reason, I guess,” Mrs. McKinley said with a small laugh. “It's called Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It's a musical.”

Connor's eyes widened. “Oh, I love musicals! I definitely want that one!”

As Connor's siblings tried to convince their father to let them pick another movie, Mrs. McKinley went to pay for the one Connor chose. Connor followed her, bouncing excitedly.

More protesting ensued as the McKinley children were ushered into the car. Connor got in his usual seat with the movie held close to his chest. His siblings chattered among themselves the whole ride home, discussing what movies they wanted the next time they got to choose.

Once home, Mrs. McKinley went to get snacks ready, while the eldest McKinley children got blankets and pillows. Connor put the movie in the VHS player, and he waited for the rest of the family to be ready. Connor held the case and was staring at the cover. The man on it was really pretty. The whole cover was really pretty.

Soon, everyone was ready. Connor had a blanket wrapped around himself and he stared at the TV with wide eyes. He loved every second of the movie, from the songs to the bright colors to the lead actor. In fact, Joseph himself was Connor's favorite part of the movie.

That night, Connor laid in bed, humming the songs from Joseph. He proceeded to watch it every day until they had to return it. Connor still sang the songs every chance he got, and he tried to wear as many colors as possible to emulate Joseph's coat of many colors. When he went to school like that, some of the other kids looked at him funny, but most of them complimented him.

Connor's obsession with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat continued, and when he got his own copy of the movie for his birthday, he felt like he had won the lottery. His parents had to drag him away from the TV so he could finish opening presents and so they could sing to him. Connor held the tape tightly, as if he was scared someone would steal it.

Connor started watching the movie every chance he got. He soon had every song memorized, and when he was not watching the movie, he was singing it. His parents were more than happy with this behavior; after all, it was based on a bible story AND Donny Osmond was pretty much a Mormon poster child. They felt the movie would be a good influence on their youngest son, who they feared would grow up to be gay. 

Little did they know that Connor was practically in love with Joseph. Connor loved his long wavy hair, and he thought his eyes were very pretty. Connor thought that Joseph was the handsomest man ever, even more handsome than Steve Blade.

A few months later, Connor started first grade. His obsession with the film continued, and he tried to get kids to reenact scenes from it during recess. No one really wanted  
to do this, so Connor just sang the songs by themselves.

A big part of first grade was writing daily journals. The teacher just gave them random topics to write about every day, and everyone would write a few sentences and then draw a picture relating to it. On one particular day, the teacher told the class to write about what their futures would be like.

“Im going to be an actor,” Connor wrote. “And Im going to marry joe.” Underneath was a drawing of him (with an arrow and the word “me” so the teacher wouldn't get confused) and a drawing of Joseph all decked out in the multicolored coat. The two drawings were holding hands. Many other children had similar sentences, and similar drawings. The biggest difference was that the other children planned to marry someone of the opposite gender.

The teacher went around and collected the journals to grade them. She frowned when she saw Connor's. “We're having a change of schedule today,” she announced as she put the pile of papers on her desk. “It's silent reading time now, and then we'll go on with the lessons.”

The children took out their books, and the teacher went to make a phone call. She spoke in a whispered tone, but the children were too absorbed in their books to want to listen in.

When Connor came home that day, his copy of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was not in its usual spot. He looked around for it, feeling like he was about to cry.

His father saw him looking for it. “Connor,” Mr. McKinley said firmly. “We got a call from your teacher today about your journal. We weren't happy.”

Connor looked at his father, genuinely confused. “What's wrong with it?” He asked, worrying he forgot to capitalize something or missed punctuation. 

“You wrote in it that you want to marry Joseph,” Mr. McKinley said with a slight grimace. “You can't say things like that, Connor.”

“But Dad,” Connor argued. “He's really pretty!”

“That doesn't matter,” Mr. McKinley replied. “God isn't happy when you say things like that.”

Tears stung the young boy's eyes, and he blinked them away. He hated when his parents told him that God did not like things he said or did. The church and his Sunday school taught him that God loved all his children, no matter what. “It's not fair!” Connor protested. 

“It's plenty fair,” Mr. McKinley said calmly. “You need to outgrow this phase, Connor. As soon as you do, you can have your movie back.”

Connor never did get the movie back. As time passed, he tried to stop liking boys. Not just to get the movie back, but also so he could stop seeing the disappointment his parents had for him. He pretended to like girls, but nothing worked. Connor slowly forgot the words to the songs. He remembered how pretty Joseph was, and how much he liked his eyes. Despite trying his best, when Connor was in fifth grade and realized his best friend had the same color eyes, Connor fell head over heels for him. He did not tell a soul about it, though.

Connor made it through high school without letting anyone know he liked boys. His parents seemed to sense it, because the sense of disappointment did not go away.

After his mission, Connor did not go back home. He ran away with one of the other missionaries, one who had soft brown hair and beautiful eyes that reminded Connor of Steve Blade. The two escaped to New York together, and they got a shitty little apartment.

A few days after their arrival, Connor and Kevin were shopping in thrift stores for furniture. Connor felt nervous about being out in public with Kevin as his boyfriend, even though no one in New York knew (or cared about) who they were. The two walked past the DVD shelf, and Connor stopped when he saw a movie with familiar rainbow writing on the cover, and a familiar pretty face underneath.

“Everything okay?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah...” Connor said. “Kevin... I know we agreed not to get anything too frivolous, but...” He bit his lip. Asking for things made him nervous. “Can we get this?” He picked up the movie.

Kevin looked at the cover. “Hey, I remember this film!” He said. “It was one of the only non-Disney movies I would watch when I was little.” He smiled. “If you really want it, you can get it.”

Connor smiled back, and he put the movie in their cart. “Thanks,” he said. “Sorry, Dad,” he added with a small laugh.

“What do you mean?” Kevin asked.

“I used to have a VHS copy of that movie when it came out,” Connor answered. “I watched it daily, but then my dad took it away when he found out I was in love with Donny Osmond. He said I couldn't have it back until I turned normal. But I guess that's never gonna happen!” He let out a loud laugh. People in the store started staring, and Kevin gripped Connor's hand to try and get him to control himself.

That night, after moving a bunch of their new furniture into their apartment, Connor and Kevin laid on their pile of pillows and blankets that was serving as a temporary bed. Kevin's laptop was open, and they had just started the movie. Exhausted from a long day, Connor's eyes started to close. He felt perfectly content for the first time he could remember.


End file.
